Smart, Sophisticated Apartment Remodel

A ‘70s era remodel gets a clean, traditional makeover

Slide 1 Of Smart, sophisticated apartment remodel

Werner Straube

The last time the century-old apartment in the heart of downtown Chicago had been updated was in the 1970s. "It wasn't exactly a dump, but it needed a lot of work," says interior designer Eva Quateman, who had restored other apartments for her family, but none to this extent. "It was full of Formica. The '70s remodeling really wasn't appropriate for the age and character of the building."

Eva solved structural problems, and husband Gary implemented her improvements. "We stripped off the fussy moldings, which had a lot of belling and ridges -- about three or four different angles," Eva says. "I replaced them with very clean custom moldings that are much more tailored. My goal was 'clean traditional.'"

The living room exudes grown-up glamour, from its high-sheen custom sofa to the pair of old low-back chairs that Eva Quateman had relegated to her previous home's basement for years, awaiting just the right place to showcase them. A quartet of Chinese screens adds global sophistication, while the tiny side table Eva designed invigorates the mix of scale.

The dining room demanded special attention. "It was very large, with a family room off of it," Eva says. "We didn't need a huge dining room, so I added walls to make it smaller and to create a little library." She aligned the new dining room opening with the library windows so that the light flows throughout.

The dining room's circa-1900 French chandelier -- one of Eva's early indulgences -- illuminates the transparency of a Lucite pedestal-base table she designed for the space. "Its heavy glass top took six men to move! It's never leaving," she declares. Walls were hand-painted to suggest gold linen.

One favorite change of space is the redesigned kitchen. By rethinking the space -- such as moving the laundry room out to a closet in the hallway -- Eva not only captured square footage for the sitting area (glimpsed here; see next slide), but had room for an island and a built-in desk. Subway tiles keep the backsplash subtle and allow the custom-designed cabinetry to be the focus.

Black and white reign supreme in the kitchen. Checkerboard black and white tiles laid on the diagonal create interest underfoot, and black and white stripes cushion the breakfast banquette and chairs. The crisp, graphic look extends to work spaces, where honed granite countertops are black and custom cabinets are white.

Small changes, such as adding a window seat in the master bedroom, solved big problems. "In a vintage house, closet space is always an issue. You have to create it wherever you can," Eva says. The window seat left room for new tall closets at either end of the wall. Hand-painted tone-on-tone stripes bring sophistication to the walls. Mid-century lamps bring glamour to the bedside.

Make it flow.
That's Eva's No. 1 rule in decorating. "One room should flow into the next unobtrusively. The design should sing the same song as it progresses along from space to space," she insists. Even houses with a lot of different colors in the palette should have continuity. "If green and orange are in one room, then maybe it's green and red in the next. The idea is that some elements of color should segue from one room to the next so the spaces flow." Two exceptions: teenagers' rooms and basements. In Eva's scheme of things, these decorating-defiant spaces are best left alone, in the no-worries zone.

Don't think about "the list."
"Shop with your heart. Find the thing you love, and buy it," she coaxes. "Buy what's fabulous, not what you need. I promise you, 'the list' of what you need will take care of itself. You'll eventually get a sofa and a bed." But you may not be so lucky as to ever again run across that special antique table or crystal chandelier, she warns.

Break out of the box.
"I don't like an entire room consisting of a bunch of boxy shapes," she says. Note the turned arms and tops of the upholstered chairs in her master bedroom -- and the round ottoman between them.

Mix the scale.
Cases in point: the Eva-designed tiny gold table beside the master bedroom's recamier, and the tiny tables pulled up to the library's massive 12-foot-long sofa. .